Research Interest: Galaxy Dynamics
To explore the life cycle of activity,
I study gas flows from the nuclear regions
of black hole and supernova powered galaxies.
Among other effects, these processes are the main feedbacks
on star formation in galaxies.
Our HST image of the 1-kpc diameter superbubble/vortex in NGC 3079
shown above is a superb example of such outflow-driven structures.
For this work,
I have used HST, ROSAT, and Chandra Space Observatories, as
well as ground-based optical (Gemini, SOAR)
and radio telescopes (VLA, GBT). The targets are nearby
galaxies (out to 100 Mpc), including our Milky Way.
Here are some recent papers.
More at the astro-ph server.
Presently I am also leading several instrument efforts. I am
using electron-multiplied CCDs for Lucky Imaging of solar system
objects. And I am designing and soon building spectrograph components
for SOAR and other telescopes that exploit adaptive optics,
sometimes using novel astrophotonic components.